A Coat, a Book, and a Kiss
by paper-fl0wers
Summary: Submitted for the contest. Everyone is the mansion is excited for the festivities that arrive when they attend the annual Christmas party. Everyone, that is, but Rogue and Logan. Can they make Christmas special in their own way?


**A/N: This is for the Rogan contest. Bobby is a little out of character here with reference to the movie but if you read the comics his character has always been considered the "class clown" so I'm not way off. =] **

A Coat, a Book, and a Kiss 

Jubilee burst into Rogue's room in a mix of enthusiasm and excitement. "Rogue, I'm so excited!" she cried. "Isn't this so much fun?" Then she stopped and stared. "Wow, you look amazing, girl."

Rogue blushed and backed away shyly. The young girl had decided to dress up for the Christmas party this year, despite her fear of revealing too much skin. Her recent break up with Bobby, due to her little "problem", made her feel like throwing caution into the wind. So, for the first time since her mutation developed, Rogue was wasn't wearing layer after layer of clothing.

Instead she was wearing a long silk gown that was red and shimmered all the way down. The dress went to a little below the knees and the sleeves were short. Rogue wouldn't be Rogue without long, elbow length, black gloves to go with it. The gloves had become a part of who she was. They were almost a fashion accessory to her now. Jubilee had worn them for a while to, determined to help her friend in starting a fashion trend, but the effort was futile. Rogue had decided to leave her hair down because a certain someone (whose name is not Bobby) had once told her he liked her hair better when it was long. She put a few soft curls at the bottom.

"Thanks. You don't think it's too much, do you?" Rogue asked.

"Not at all. You've got curves and it's about time you showed them off!" exclaimed Jubilee, who was wearing a strapless black gown and had her hair in a bun. "I wish Kitty was here," Jubilee added. Their friend was visiting home and celebrating Hanukkah with her family.

"Yeah," Rogue said absent-mindedly. She was wishing someone else was coming to this party. She hadn't asked, but Rogue knew Logan would not be attending. Logan was not exactly the "Christmas" kind of guy.

"Shall we?" Jubilee said, gesturing toward down the stairs. Rogue smiled and nodded nervously.

The two of them walked down the stairs where the festivities were. The tree was decorated in all its glory and tables of food were set up. Everyone was here, socializing and enjoying the party. Jubilee raced off in exhilaration. Rogue gazed at all the guests. Logan was no where to be found. She sighed, even though she knew this was how it was going to be.

"Check this out!" Jubilee exclaimed, running over to Rogue with a cocktail shaker and a glass. "Want some?"

"Not really," Rogue said dryly.

"You're so stiff tonight this might loosen ya up!"

"I'm not really in the partying mood."

Jubilee opened her mouth to speak when she heard a rather loud person exclaim "Ho, ho, ho!" from atop the staircase. A mutant, one they couldn't recognize from a distance, was clad in a Santa costume and carrying a large sack filled with candy canes.

"That's one thin Santa," Jubilee said, furrowing her brow.

The mysterious "Santa" descended the stairs and made his way around to hand out candy canes to the guests.

"Shoot," Rogue hissed incredulously when she finally recognized who it was. She grabbed Jubilee and raced to the other side of the room.

"What's up with you?"

"That's Bobby!" Rogue cried.

"So?...You look hot. He'll be jealous."

"What if he tries to talk to me?"

"At a social gathering? That fiend!"

"We haven't spoken since we ended our relationship."

"You know you can't hide from him for the rest of your life. You're going to run into him eventually, and the more time until that happens, the more awkward that moment will be. I say talk to him now and get it over with."

"I guess you're right," Rogue said and made her way over to Bobby. He was handing out a candy cane to Scott and Jean.

"What's the difference between me and Tiger Woods?" Bobby asked enthusiastically.

Scott frowned. "Huh?"

"I stop after three Hos!" exclaimed Bobby and Scott frowned even more.

Rogue ran upstairs before Bobby could turn to see her. It was too hard, and it wasn't like she wanted to talk to Bobby anyway. She cared about him, but they just weren't couple material.

It was quieter upstairs. Rogue could here herself think better. She went into her room and sat on her bed, remembering Christmas back in Mississippi. She closed her eyes, seeing if she could take a nap. Then Rogue almost laughed. _There's a party down the stairs, I'm seventeen, and I'm trying to take a nap. _

But the sound of footsteps outside jolted Rogue upright and her eyes flew open. Those footsteps, so unique just like everything else about him, could only belong to one person. Rogue peeked outside her bedroom and saw Logan opening the door to his own room. She shut the door again, and wondered if maybe she could salvage the night after all. A conversation with Logan often made her day. Rogue grabbed her coat and threw it on over her dress. She then went next door and knocked.

"Hey, Marie," Logan said and Rogue took that as permission to enter. Rogue smiled at the fact that Logan knew it was her from outside the door just by her scent.

"Where've you been all day?" Rogue asked as Logan removed his jacket and tossed it onto his bed.

"Nowhere special," he answered as he brushed the snow out of his hair. He looked at Rogue and noticed she was wearing a coat. "Going somewhere, kid?"

She blushed. "Not really."

He looked at her bare ankles and raised an eyebrow. "So what's with-"

"You going to the party?" Rogue said, trying to get Logan off topic.

He shrugged. "That's not really my thing."

Rogue didn't know what to say, but she _really _wanted Logan to go to the party. "So what is? Sitting up here twiddling your thumbs all evening?"

"Better than talking to Popsicle while he does a horrible impersonation of Santa."

Rogue frowned and Logan suddenly looked regretful. "Damn it. I'm sorry, kid. I forgot that you and him just recently broke up."

He had misread her feelings. "No, it's ok," she said anyway. "We're better off like this. Besides I have feelings for someone else," she said so quickly and quietly she was sure Logan hadn't heard.

Logan stepped closer to her and gently ran a hand through one of her ivory streaks. "Really? Who?"

"Well..."

"Come on, kid. I promise I won't tell anyone," he said as a joke with a smirk.

"You know what? I just thought of something you could do!" Rogue exclaimed.

"And that is?" Logan said, decided to play her game.

"Um..." Rogue had no idea what Logan could do, other than hold her and tell her that he loved her. "Read _A Christmas Carol_," she finally said.

_"A Christmas Carol_?"

"Yeah, you know with Tiny Tim and Ebenezer Scrooge? It's a book written by Charles Dickens. It's one of my favorites. I could loan it to you if you want."

"Sure."

Rogue raced into her room, wishing at this point she had just talked to Bobby, and tore her room apart for the book she hadn't seen in forever. Finally, she found it, and ran back to Logan's room. She handed him the book and he examined it, uninterested.

Down the stairs the merriment could easily be heard. The mutants had taken to singing Christmas carols and ringing bells in a celebratory matter. Logan and Rogue looked at each other, both thinking the same thing.

"We're just two losers aren't we?" Rogue said, laughing a little.

"I don't need to be with them, Marie. I just need..." he stopped and stared at her, at a loss for words for once.

Rogue stared into his eyes. "Is it too weird that we feel this way?" she asked quietly.

"Why don't you take off your coat?" he said, instead of answering the question.

Rogue did. She wanted to see what he thought of her when she wasn't frumpy and dressed in too many layers.

"You look..." but Rogue never heard what he thought, though she had a pretty good idea of it when Logan wrapped his arms around her neck and began to kiss her. She fell into his intoxicating touch at first, but came to her senses soon enough.

"Logan, this isn't right! I could hurt you."

"I can heal."

"I know but...I'm not taking any chances, at least not yet. Can't we start off small?"

He looked disappointed, but just nodded. They both sat on his bed then. Rogue put on her coat so that Logan could take her in his arms. They turned on the television and watched sugar coated Christmas specials in comfortable silence. Logan stroked her hair softly. Rogue dozed off after a while, the rhythmic feel of Logan's strokes making her feel drowsy. She woke up later, warm and sleepy.

"Logan, I need to tell you something. I have feelings for you. I've had them for a long time, but I always thought you looked at me as 'just a kid' and had feelings for Doctor Grey."

Logan kissed the top of her head. "You're everything to me, and then even more."

"It's getting late. The party is probably almost over and Jubilee will be wondering where I am. I better take off."

Rogue and Logan kissed one last time and she turned to leave.

"Wait, Rogue," Logan said quickly._ Anything to keep her here. _He thought.

She turned to look at him, chocolate eyes shimmering.

"Your book. Don't you want it?"

"Keep it. Tell me what you think," she said with a grin. She turned to leave again.

"Wait," Logan cried again.

She turned around. "What?"

He smirked. "Can you take off your coat one last time?"

She shook her head fondly. "Goodnight, Logan," she said and then left.

**A/N: Can you all review please? :) This is a one-shot and I'd hate for it not to have a review. Thanks all and merry Christmas!!**

**-paper-fl0wers**


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